kurui
In the Brooder
- Feb 20, 2015
- 71
- 4
- 41
This is my first time raising chickens, so I welcome any advice! Thanks to this forum I found out the original three babies I brought home were all boys instead of the one boy and two girls I thought I had... thankfully we were able to swap the two extra boys for two girls.
Anyway- I've noticed a few wing feathers in the brooder that seem to have been moulted, so I'm wondering if young chickens moult, and if so, just how different my babies will look like when they're all grown up- I was wondering if it's like cockatiels and they have a first set of feathers and then a first adult set? I suppose the alternative is that they're getting yanked out but there was no blood in the shafts and they look just like my cockatiel's moulted feathers, but with really long shafts.
Photos! Here is my boy Doodledoo and (introducing!) my girls Cecille and Bebe. Bebe is smaller than the other two but doesn't seem to have realised
Poor Doodledoo had his comb pecked by one of his brothers when he was little, so it has a mini spike instead of the full-sized one second from the right in this picture. Will it grow to be an equal size with the others as he grows up, or will he bear his war wound forever?
It's a bit hard to see in this picture, but the girls have different colour legs to Mr. Doodle- his legs are a very obvious yellow, and theirs are much paler. The girls have black on their beaks, whereas his is almost entirely yellow.
Bebe having a snooze on Doodledoo's back, aww. Here you can see Cecille's back, wing and tail feathers better- overall she and Bebe have a lot more grey/black than their brother.
(And a bonus, look! my baby boy only two weeks ago! Isn't he sweet? I can't believe how quickly they grow!)
Anyway- I've noticed a few wing feathers in the brooder that seem to have been moulted, so I'm wondering if young chickens moult, and if so, just how different my babies will look like when they're all grown up- I was wondering if it's like cockatiels and they have a first set of feathers and then a first adult set? I suppose the alternative is that they're getting yanked out but there was no blood in the shafts and they look just like my cockatiel's moulted feathers, but with really long shafts.
Photos! Here is my boy Doodledoo and (introducing!) my girls Cecille and Bebe. Bebe is smaller than the other two but doesn't seem to have realised
Poor Doodledoo had his comb pecked by one of his brothers when he was little, so it has a mini spike instead of the full-sized one second from the right in this picture. Will it grow to be an equal size with the others as he grows up, or will he bear his war wound forever?
It's a bit hard to see in this picture, but the girls have different colour legs to Mr. Doodle- his legs are a very obvious yellow, and theirs are much paler. The girls have black on their beaks, whereas his is almost entirely yellow.
Bebe having a snooze on Doodledoo's back, aww. Here you can see Cecille's back, wing and tail feathers better- overall she and Bebe have a lot more grey/black than their brother.
(And a bonus, look! my baby boy only two weeks ago! Isn't he sweet? I can't believe how quickly they grow!)
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